THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210517
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The Pentagon's top civilian and uniformed leaders are reaffirming their support for the Navy's embattled Seawolf submarine program, urging senators to reject a House-passed plan to stop construction after only two of the ships.
The Navy's plan for three Seawolf-class subs ``is the most straightforward and lowest cost approach'' to meeting submarine needs, Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asserted in a letter Monday to two key senators.
Two of the subs, the Seawolf and the Connecticut, are under construction at Electric Boat of Groton, Conn. The Seawolf is to be christened in ceremonies there Saturday.
The Navy is seeking $1.5 billion in 1996 for what would be the last ship in the line. Almost $1 billion already has been invested, and canceling construction now would cost up to $1 billion more, the service asserts.
Completing the third ship ``is right for the taxpayer and right for our defense needs,'' Perry and Shalikashvili wrote Sens. J. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and Sam Nunn, D.-Ga., in a letter delivered Tuesday. Thurmond is chairman and Nunn the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is considering the Pentagon's 1996 spending plan.
The Seawolf ships are designed to be the quietest subs in the world and would carry an assortment of torpedoes and cruise missiles. They also would be able to deploy squadrons of Navy SEALs for special operations missions.
But the ships' high cost has made them controversial on Capitol Hill and has spurred the Navy and Electric Boat to begin work on a new class of attack subs slated to begin production in 1998. Those boats are envisioned as smaller and thus cheaper than the Seawolf subs.
The service and Electric Boat say construction of the third Seawolf is vital to keeping the sub builder in business until production of the new attack sub begins. The Navy wants Electric Boat to build at least the first few ships in the new class.
Newport News Shipbuilding, the nation's only other nuclear-capable shipbuilder, is making an aggressive bid for the new sub contracts. It has publicly challenged the Navy, its best customer, by asserting that it could save taxpayers up to $10 billion if allowed to compete for all 30 subs that ultimately will comprise the new class.
The House last week passed a defense spending plan that would eliminate the third Seawolf but provide for enhancements to the Connecticut and construction by Electric Boat of a ``technology demonstrator'' sub that could be a prototype for the new class. Newport News would be guaranteed the right to compete for subs to follow the prototype.
The Navy, though opposed to the House plan, did not try to force a floor fight over the proposal. Instead, service leaders hope the Senate will embrace their proposal, setting up the possibility of negotiations with the House on a compromise later this summer. Work on the 1996 defense bill must be completed by Sept. 30. by CNB